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<h1 align="center"><span class="pagetitle"><b class="alert">%</b>Accessibility<b class="alert">%</b>
Attributes</span><br><font size=2>= <span class="sitetitle">Index DOT Html</span> 
by <a href="../../../misc/email.htm">Brian Wilson</a> =</font></h1>


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<br><br>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">What are the Accessibility Attributes?</b></big>
    <dd>These attributes allow attachment of rendering and accessibility
        information to most of the elements used in document rendering. The
        TITLE attribute allows descriptive narrative information to be
        attached to elements (which are not necessarily rendered) while
        Style Sheet attributes facilitate attachment of rendering rules
        to displayed elements.
        <br><br>

        This attribute category draws its inspiration from a
        <a href="../shorthands.htm#param">Parameter Entity</a> category
        defined in HTML 4.x called "%coreattrs". This category only includes
        the CLASS, ID, STYLE, and TITLE attributes. The ACCESSKEY and TABINDEX
        elements that I included in this %Core% category are also present in
        HTML 4.x, but not used as widely as these other "%coreattrs".
        Beginning in IE 4.0 however, the use of ACCESSKEY and TABINDEX was
        expanded to cover most HTML elements, so it seemed natural to combine
        them with the other "%coreattrs".
</dl>


<dl>
<dt><br><big><b class="mainheading">Accessibility Attributes</b></big>

<dt><b class="subheading"><a href="accesskey.htm">Accesskey</a></b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<b class="s">N6B2</b>|<b class="s">O7</b>|<b class="s">S1.2</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML element using
        a keyboard character. This is a common GUI paradigm also known
        as a &quot;keyboard shortcut&quot; or &quot;keyboard accelerator&quot;
        A single character is used as the value of this attribute. In addition,
        a platform-dependent key is usually used in combination with the
        ACCESSKEY character to access the functionality of the element.
        <br><br>

        In Internet Explorer 5.0, "non-active" elements (all elements listed except
        A, AREA, OBJECT and form field elements) can use an ACCESSKEY to
        give focus to an element if it also specifies a TABINDEX attribute/value.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b><br>
        A single, case-insensitive alphanumeric character from a browser's character set.

<dt><b class="subheading"><a href="disabled.htm">Disabled</a></b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<b><i class="fs">3</i></b>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<b class="s">N6B1</b>|<b class="s">O5</b>|<b class="s">S1</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This is a stand-alone attribute which indicates the element is
        initially non-functional or can not receive focus. It is usually
        indicated visually by greying out the content of the element.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> NA

<dt><b class="subheading"><a href="tabindex.htm">Tabindex</a></b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<b class="s">N6B3</b>|<b class="s">O7</b>|<b class="s">S1</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        &quot;Tabbing&quot; is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML
        element using a standard keyboard sequence. All the active elements in a
        document can be cycled through using this sequence (ex: Windows TAB key.)
        The order of the active elements in this cycle is usually the order they
        occur in the document, but the TABINDEX attribute allows a different order
        to be established. The use of this attribute should create the following
        tabbing order cycle if the browser supports the attribute:
        <ol>
            <li>Active elements using the TABINDEX attribute with positive integers are
                navigated first. Low values are navigated first.
            <li>Active elements not specifying any TABINDEX attribute
        </ol><br>
        Other constraints also apply:
        <ul type="disc">
            <li>Those elements carrying a DISABLED attribute or using negative TABINDEX
                values do not participate in the tabbing cycle.
            <li>IE 5.0 active elements which can receive tabbing focus: A, BODY, BUTTON,
                EMBED, FRAME, IFRAME, IMG, INPUT, ISINDEX, OBJECT, SELECT, TEXTAREA
            <li>IE 5.0 TABINDEX documentation is too complicated to describe: APPLET,
                DIV, FRAMESET, SPAN, TABLE, TD, TH, THEAD, TFOOT
            <li>If an element is "non-active" (see previous point above), then it can
                not use an ACCESSKEY attribute unless a TABINDEX attribute is also set.
        </ul>
     <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> Positive or negative integers. IE 5.0
         documentation lists a valid value range of -32767 to 32767.

<dt><b class="subheading"><a href="title.htm">Title</a></b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<b class="s">N6B1</b>|<b class="s">O3</b>|<b class="s">S1.2</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute is used to give further information regarding the
        contents of an element. Interactive elements such as hyperlinks,
        images, or form fields may use this attribute to inform the user
        about the nature of the resource, or to specify help information
        if requested by the user.
        <br><br>

        The methods used to render the content of this attribute for this
        should follow the standard guidelines for the system, but may vary
        between browsers and platforms. For instance, visual browsers
        will frequently display the title as a "tool tip" (a short message
        that appears when the pointing device pauses over an object). Audio
        user agents may speak the title information in a similar context.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> An alphanumeric string.
</dl>

<a name="peculiar"></a>
<big><b class="mainheading">Browser Peculiarities</b></big>
<ul>
    <li>Netscape 6: when the document area has the focus, accesskey values
        that conflict with application accesskeys (such as "f" typically for the File
        menu) will give focus to the HTML element every time. Only when the
        document area does not have focus will the accesskey be used for the
        application's intended purpose.
    <li>Using an ACCESSKEY for buttons and links in Netscape 6 activates the
        button/link. IE merely gives the element active focus in such cases.
    <li>IE4+: IE grays out hyperlinks (A elements) if the DISABLED attribute is 
        set, but they are still activate-able. 
    <li>IE4+: For some reason, the CODE and NOBR elements are excluded from receiving 
        focus via the TABINDEX attribute - no, that doesn't really make any sense.
    <li>O5: The TITLE attribute is very hard to "access" (eg: create a visual 
        tooltip as expected) on most form widgets (INPUT/SELECT/TEXTAREA - 
        only at the exteme corners) and with list structures (DIR/DL/MENU/OL/UL 
        only in the non-LI/DT/DD areas.) This problem is fixed in Opera 6.
    <li>IE and Netscape/Mozilla use the ALT key in combination with any ACCESSKEY 
        specified to trigger it. In Opera, the accelerator key combination is SHIFT-ESCAPE 
        +ACCESSKEY.
</ul>

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